I was contacted by a recruiter a few days ago. I wasn't interested in the job but I noticed this recruiter had a blog in her signature. That's the first time I've seen that from a recruiter so I went to check it out. The blog had at least one entry that was written by someone else and that is the entry I am addressing here. That entry is
The Inside Track on Recruiters.

Take a moment to read that entry. Before I start my comparative list (a rebuttal of sorts), I do want to clarify that I believe working with recruiters is the best way to get a job. The best recruiters can work with you through large parts of your career. I also feel that some recruiters don't quite make it into the list of BEST, if you know what I mean. I am not insuinating that is true of the blog author.

I am replying point by point to that post:

1. "Work for the Recruiter". Actually, as a recruiter gets paid by filling a slot. The recruiter should be working for the techie, not the other way around.

2. "Be an exact match." That's good advice but most people have day jobs and don't have time to customize a resume for every recruiter trying to fill a slot. I keep several versions of my resume that highlight various skillsets. Don't expect me to rewrite it for every job you stumble across. Also, you have my resume. You know what I do for a living. Try to match me to jobs I might actually do instead of randomly sending me information hoping for a match. That just let's me know I'm in your rolodex.

3. "Provide Value." I totally agree. In return, if you know of a non-client company hiring candidates like me, give me that info even though you won't benefit from it. I'd be much more likely to work with you in the log term if you do.

4. "Personalize." I'm not even sure what the point is on this. I'll just refer back to my #2.

5. "Be Responsive." I agree with this and the same goes for the recruiter. Call back, or email back, when contacted. If a candidate is not accepted for a position, or if you don't think a candidate is a good match, show some respect and let the candidate know that.

6. "Co-opt." Ditto.

7. "Respect the recruiter's time." I agree. And the recruiter should respect the candidate's time. You would not believe how many times I have gotten an email that says, "I just left you a voicemail" or "Call me." When I check the voicemail, it says, "Call me." I have a job. I have a family. I don't have time to take a call whenever a recruiter needs to talk. By far, the best way to get in touch with me is email (or twitter or IM) and the same is true for many techies.

8. "Be a fountain of info." Ditto. The recruiter should let the candidate know everything going on in the target market, even if the recruiter will not benefit by doing so. It builds trust.

9. "Help in matching." Agreed. But don't send me random "lists" of jobs. You are working for me to find me a job. Try to match me to the jobs you have. I realize you don't know everything but the jobs you send me should at least be remotely related to the work I do.

10. "Provide introductions." Right back at you. You know the hiring managers. Work on getting your candidates some in person informational interviews with your clients. The feedback from those can help you place the candidate as well as assist the candidate with interviewing skills and resume building.

11. "Be positive and friendly." Absolutely. A candidate does not want to work with a jerk for a recruiter an there's no reason a recruiter will want to work with a jerk candidate. We should all try to be pleasant.

Bonus #12. This one was not part of the other blog entry but is a peeve of mine.

12. Don't ask for references before you even tell me about a job. I value my references. Nay, I highly value my references. I will not waste their time answering your questions before I know that I am even interested in a company. If that is against your policies, and you must have a reference before submitting me, well, that's your prerogative. We won't be working together. Don't try pressure tactics because that will just annoy me.

So, basically, this is a two way street. Recruiters and techies need to work together. Finding a new job is stressful, especially if the candidate is currently out of work. Even so, candidates should be just as respectful to recruiters as they are to potential employers. The same goes for recruiters. Recruiters should be just as respectful of candidates as they are to potential, or current, clients. Candidates ARE clients.

Lewis is an Oracle Ace Director, Oracle Certified Professional, published author, frequent conference speaker and Database Architect. Lewis's specialties revolve around databases, data warehousing, business intelligence and most anything having to do with databases. He has two decades of multi-vendor and open source database experience in a variety of industries and capacities and has worked with Oracle since 1993.

"Actually, there are a few books that I've recently been reading (or re-reading). I should do a blog entry on these.

Beginning PL/SQL from Apress. I don't agree with everything the author says (and I feel the OO aspect is a bit over done) but he does cover the topic well. I think he might get a little too advanced, a little too quickly, but it's a worthwile read.

Oracle PL/SQL Tuning by Dr. Tim Hall. Great book. Not for the ultra newbie but I would recommend it for those getting started as well as those who have been doing it for a while.

The Oracle Database 10g DBA Handbook from Oracle press is a book worth having on your book shelf.

"Recruiters are in a business - pure and simple. The knowledge economy and demand for IT gave them a good niche where changing technologies, need for IT workers to always look for variety and change, gave them means and motifs.

Techies found reporting to ""finance"" and like departments a pain in the back-side. They also found they could inflict pain back to these organizations by moving around as they found their skills ease collation of data and analysis which proved a salary bargaining foil.

Documentations going around as ""quality systems"" which every techie is flooded with once he has spent 4 months in any organization has provided fodder for the recruiter.

I dont see any altruistic motives anywhere and none are likely to come in, excepting CRM vendors provide HCM/TCM methodologies :-)))) LOL. As usual Oracle will score here as they always hit the Finance guys for their sales presentations. "

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Lewis Cunningham

July 15, 2008 04:25 PM

"Kawaii,

Exactly. I have had tremendous success with good recruiters but I have also felt beat up by the bad ones.

LewisC

"

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Lewis Cunningham

July 15, 2008 03:44 PM

"That's what I was saying, ""The recruiter SHOULD be working for the techie"".

LewisC
"

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JJFlash

July 15, 2008 02:20 PM

"You say that the recruiter is working for the techie. That's like saying the used car salesman is working for the customer. No, the recruiter is working for the potential employers, trying to fill slots with bodies, not trying to find the best job for you. Hit all the client's buzzwords, and you may make the ""sale"".

That doesn't mean that the used car salesman shouldn't realize that satisfied customers come back. They don't bring cars back or complain to the BBB and consumer protection people either. Likewise, the recruiter who works the way you say will have a more satisfied client (not you - the client is the employer) and won't lose commissions because the recruitee was a bad fit and didn't stay. "